Saturday, January 21
Lexington, KY
1:00 PM
Texas A&M
at
Kentucky
Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Aggies Face Tough Road Test vs. Wildcats at Rupp Arena
Jan 20, 2023 | Men's Basketball
Game Day: at Kentucky
- Saturday, January 21, 2023 • 1 p.m. CT
- Rupp Arena • Lexington, KY
THE MATCHUP
- Texas A&M: 13-5, 5-0 SEC
- Kentucky: 12-6, 3-3 SEC
- Game Notes: Click Here
WATCH
- TV: ESPN
- Play-by-Play: Tom Hart
- Commentary: Jimmy Dykes
LISTEN
- Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network
- 1620 AM / 94.5 FM (local), SiriusXM 384
- Play-by-Play: Andrew Monaco
- Analysis: Dr. John Thornton
- Listen Live: 12th Man Mobile App
- After five straight games vs. first-year SEC head coaches (all wins), the Aggies face a UK squad led 30-year coaching veteran John Calipari.
- Two of Texas A&M's four total wins over UK have been at Rupp: 73-69 on 1/22/1978 and 83-71 on 1/12/2013.
TRENDS & STREAKS:
- Texas A&M has opened SEC play with a 5-0 record for the second time in program history. The only other Aggie squad to start SEC play with five straight wins was the 2015-15 team.
- Transfers have been key in the 5-0 SEC start with Dexter Dennis (Wichita State) slashing just shy of a double-double (11.6 pts/9.6 rebs) and Julius Marble (Michigan State) averaging a team-best 15.6/g.
- The Aggies have won nine straight SEC regular season matchups dating back to 2021-22, which is the longest since joining elite league. It's the Aggies' longest in any conference since an 11-game streak against Southwest Conference foes more than 40 years ago (last two of 1978-79 and first nine of 1979-80).
- In the 5-0 SEC start, the Aggies have trailed for a combined 5 minutes and 25 seconds. The Aggies have not trailed in the past 107 minutes and 36 seconds dating back to a 14-13 lead by Missouri at the 12:24 mark of the first half on 1/11.
- The Aggies are allowing an average of 20.2 first-half points in SEC play, while limiting opponents to 26.4 FG% / 17.9 3-PT% in the first stanza.
- The Aggies' seven-game winning streak is the team's longest since closing out the 2021-22 regular season with four victories and winning three games to reach the 2022 SEC tournament final.
- Texas A&M and Alabama go into the weekend tied for the longest active winning streak by a SEC team (Nation's 8th-longest active win streak).
- The Aggies have used the same starting lineup (Coleman III, Dennis, Marble, Radford and Taylor IV) for the last seven games.
- During the 7-game win streak, Tyrece Radford is team's leading scorer at 14.3 points while hitting 52.2% of his FGs and 37.5% of his 3-pointers. In the 11 games prior, Radford was slashing 10.8 pts/31.5%/27.5%.
- In the 'straw that stirs the drink' category, Wade Taylor IV leads the team in points, 3-pointers, free throw %, assists and steals.
FIRST HALF CLAMPS:
Texas A&M has limited its past two opponents to a combined 30 points in the first half -- 18 at South Carolina and 12 vs. Florida.
- In research dating back to 1996-97, the combined 30 first-half points allowed vs. SC and UF is the fewest in back to back games. Similarly it's the first time that the Aggies have allowed fewer than 20 first-half points in consecutive games (since at least 1996-97).
- In fact, the Aggies have been consistently stingy in the first half of its five SEC games, allowing just 101 points (20.2 avg) and limiting shooters to 26.4% on FGs and 17.9% on 3-point tries.
First Half Defense vs. SEC Opponents
Team FG/FGA (Pct.) 3FG/3FGA (Pct.) Pts.
at Florida (1/4) 9-24 (.375) 2-10 (.200) 23
LSU (1/7) 8-28 (.286) 4-14 (.286) 23
Missouri (1/11) 7-23 (.304) 1-10 (.100) 25
at S. Carolina (1/14) 7-24 (.292) 2-11 (.182) 18
Florida (1/18) 2-26 (.077) 1-11 (.091) 12
Total 33-125 (.264) 10-56 (.179) 101
IN SEC GAMES ONLY:
- Julius Marble ranks No. 9 in scoring at 15.6/g and No. 3 in FG% at 53.4%.
- Dennis Dennis ranks No. 2 in rebounding at 9.6/g and No. 2 in defensive rebounds at 7.0/g.
- Wade Taylor IV is tied for No. 4 in assists at 4.0/g and ranks No. 7 in assist/turnover ratio at 1.33. He is hitting 93.8% of the FTA (tNo. 2).
- Henry Coleman III is tied for No. 3 in offensive rebounds at 3.0/g.
- Boosted by a 48-16 rebounding advantage vs. South Carolina, the Aggies lead the SEC with a 12.6 rebounding margin.
- The team ranks No. 2 in scoring defense, allowing just 57.6 pts/g. The Aggies are the only team to allow fewer than 300 points in SEC games (288 points).
- The Aggies rank No. 3 in scoring margin at +15.4 and tied for No. 4 in scoring offense at 73.0 pts/g.
TOP 10 TAYLOR:
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, the 6-foot do-it-all dynamo from Dallas, Texas, ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in a wide array of statistical categories:
Statistic Average SEC Rank
Points 15.2 No. 8
Assists 3.7 No. 7
Assist/TO Ratio 1.57 No. 10
Steals 1.8 No. 8
Free Throws 73 total No. 5
FT Attempts 89 total No. 8
FT% 82.0% No. 4
3-pointers 2.2 No. 8
3-point attempts 109 total No. 7
Little Big Man:
Despite generally being one of the shorter players on the court, the 6-foot-2 Tyrece Radford makes a huge impact in the paint.
NCAA "Major Conferences" Offensive Rebounds Leaders (6' 2" or shorter)
Rk Player, School Ht. ORebs
1. Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M 6-2 1.9
Posh Alexander, St. John's 6-0 1.9
3. Erice Reed Jr., Mississippi State 6-2 1.4
4. Deivon Smith, Georgia Tech 6-1 1.4
5. Jahmir Young, Maryland 6-1 1.2
SEC Rebounds Leaders (6' 2" or shorter)
Rk Player, School Ht. Rebs
1. Tyrece Radford , Texas A&M 6-2 5.3
2. Trae Hannibal, LSU 6-2 4.6
3. Meechie Johnson Jr., South Carolina 6-2 4.1
4. Mark Sears, Alabama 6-1 4.0
5. Wendell Green Jr., Auburn 5-11 3.6
MARKED IMPROVEMENT:
Tyrece Radford is getting to the line and hitting the freebies at a significantly higher rate in his fourth season as a collegian.
- After averaging only 2.5 free throw attempts per game for the first three years of his career, Radford is making 5.2 trips to the charity stripe per game in 2022-23.
- Radford has already hit 76 free throws in just 18 games. His previous high season total was 56 from his freshman season at Virginia Tech (56-of-81) when he played 32 games.
- Radford's 80.9 FT% is markedly improved from last year when he hit 67.1% from the line. Radford's three-year FT% entering 2022-23 was 70.6%.
SEC Free Throw Leaders
Rk Player, School FT Made
1. Wendell Green Jr., Auburn 87
2. Rick Council IV, Arkansas 79
3. Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M 76
4. Colin Castlelon, Florida 74
5. Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M 73
Brandon Miller, Alabama 73
80% Free Throw Shooters in the SEC
Rk Player, School FT-FTA FT %
1. Wendell Green Jr., Auburn 87-103 .845
2. Matthew Murrell, Ole Miss 54-64 .844
3. Brandon Miller, Alabama 73-87 .839
4. Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M 73-89 .820
5. Terry Roberts, Georgia 54-66 .818
6. Julian Phillips, Tennessee 65-80 .813
7. Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M 76-94 .809
8. Mark Sears, Alabama 66-82 .805
Random notables:
- Since trailing Northwestern State for the first 21:35 of the 12/27 meeting, by as many as 15 points at one point, the Aggies have trailed just 7:43 since over next 257 minutes and 54 seconds.
- Dexter Dennis' 16 rebounds vs. Florida on 1/18 was the most by Aggies vs. a SEC opponents since Robert Williams had 16 vs. Missouri on 2/8/2017. Interestingly, Texas A&M Radio Network analyst John Thornton had 17 rebounds against Baylor on 2/14/1974.
- Easily the Aggies' most prolific shooter from deep, Wade Taylor IV has improved his 3-point % by nearly .10 from last year. Taylor is hitting 36.7% in 2022-23 after making 27.8% as a freshman.
- The Aggies' starting lineup has a definite Pelican State flavor with at least two Louisiana natives in it for every game so far this season - Tyrece Radford (Baton Rouge) and Dexter Dennis (Baker).
- The Aggies have used the same starting lineup (Coleman III, Dennis, Marble, Radford and Taylor IV) for the last seven games (all wins). For the season, the fivesome is 8-1 with the lone loss coming to Boise State on Dec. 3.
- The defensive-minded duo of Andersson Garcia and Andre Gordon have been the first players off the bench in five of the last six games.
- The Aggies' 2022-23 roster was bolstered by the addition of six newcomers in the offseason -- five transfers and one scholarship freshman. Headlining the group was Dexter Dennis, who was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Wichita State in 2021-22, and Julius Marble, who helped Michigan State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Both have earned spots in the starting five.
- A nugget in the Jan. 12, 2021 Associated Press recap of Virginia Tech's win over Duke included legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski describing Radford's 18-point, 12-rebound, 6-assist effort in the victory: "The kid Radford was the best player on the court. Double-double, but his intensity, how hard he played really helps their team immensely."
FOLLOW THE ACTION:
- The game will be televised by ESPN with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (color) on the call.
- The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network or locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton calling the action.
Players Mentioned
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